Cheese compositions are generally prepared from dairy liquids by processes that include treating the liquid with a coagulating or clotting agent. The coagulating agent may be a curding enzyme, an acid, a suitable bacterial culture, or it may include such a culture. The coagulum or curd that results generally incorporates transformed casein, fats including natural butter fat, and flavorings that arise (especially when a bacterial culture is used). The curd is then separated from the liquid whey. The resulting whey generally contains soluble proteins not affected by the coagulation; such proteins are, of course, not incorporated into the coagulum. The inability of whey proteins to be retained in the coagulum is an important factor contributing to a lack of efficiency in production of cheese curds, and to a reduction in overall yield relating to the incorporation of all the protein solids that are present in the starting dairy liquids into resulting cheese curds. These problems have been recognized for many years.
Cottage cheese and other firm-bodied cheeses are conventionally prepared by fermenting and/or acidifying milk to form precipitated milk protein curds, and a relatively large amount of liquid whey which is separated from the curd. While subsequent processing may be utilized to recover useful components such as whey protein from the byproduct whey, the whey produced in conventional cheesemaking nevertheless represents a significant environmental disposal issue. Economical solidified milk products, in which all of the fluid milk is utilized to produce a wholesome firm-bodied, relatively low calorie food product having cheese-like texture would be desirable from an environmental perspective.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,647,470, 4,517,216 and 4,869,916 are directed to gellan gums, especially partially or completely deacylated gellan gums, and blends of gellan gums with starch, xanthan, konjac and gelatin for thickening and gelling a variety of food products. These patents do not provide firm-bodied gelled milk products having the texture of cheese.
Milk can be conventionally gelled to provide gelled milk desserts, such as puddings, having a soft texture. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,479,973 describes gelled milk desserts comprising milk, modified starch, iota-carrageenan, and xanthan with locust bean gum, guar gum, or gelatin. However, such gelled milk compositions have a relatively soft gel texture intended for a dessert composition. They fail to provide the firm, chewy texture of a cheese.
Sour milk containing a stabilizer (i.e., high methoxyl pectin, carboxymethylcellulose or propylene glycol alginate) has been gelled with electronegatively charged gelling agents such as low methoxyl pectin, carrageenan, and furcelleran (U.S. Pat. No. 3,978,243). Under these conditions, the casein in the acidified milk does not coprecipitate with the stabilizer and/or gelling agent additives. This process does not provide a cheese-like dairy gel such as a cheese curd product.
A non-fat cream cheese type product having the appearance, taste and consistency of fat-containing cream cheese is provided in U.S. Pat. No. 5,079,024. Concentrated skim milk is heated together with an emulsifier salt. The resulting mixture is transferred to a second agitating mixer, then combined with a gum to provide a thickened skim milk. After homogenization, the resulting mixture is transferred to a third agitating mixer, and a suitable bulking agent and an additional gum are added while heating with agitation. The mixture is then homogenized again to provide the cream cheese product. The manufacture of this cream cheese product requires both an emulsifier salt and a bulking agent, as well as a complex process, including multiple heating, agitation, and homogenization steps.
Edible plastic dispersions based on rapid gel setting starches are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,338,560. These dispersions require a gelling composition containing a gelling agent in an amount of 1 to 8 times the critical concentration, and a continuous gel-forming composition containing a gelling starch in an amount of 1 to 8 times the critical concentration. Additionally the compositions may also contain dairy and non-dairy ingredients as a source of fat, flavoring, and/or protein. The compositions are useful as, for example, bread spreads to replace margarine or halvarine.
A low-fat processed cheese prepared from skim milk cheese, a low viscosity bulking agent (i.e., levuloglucosan), and an emulsifying salt is provided in U.S. Pat. No. 5,374,443. The mixture is briefly heated to provide a homogenous molten cheese mass, then packaged, to provide a low fat processed cheese.
Japanese Patent 58 111649 (English Abstract) discloses adding kappa-carrageenan to an aqueous material (i.e., cocoa, coffee, milk, fermented milk, cheese, or fruit juice) and at least one cation selected from potassium, calcium, magnesium, and ammonium cations. This mixture can be gelled at normal temperature to form a stable aqueous gel.
There remains a need in the dairy industry for a cheese-like composition that utilizes and incorporates all the protein components present in dairy liquids such as milk and milk-derived components. In particular, conventional cheese manufacturing processes provide a cheese curd and a separate whey component. The whey component is not normally used or incorporated in cheese products formed from the curd. Thus, there remains a need for providing a cheese-like product that incorporates the nutritional components normally lost with the whey component. There furthermore remains a need for providing a cheese-like product starting from a dairy liquid such as milk or milk-derived components, that can be gelled to form a product having the texture, consistency, and mouthfeel of a cheese. There also remains a need for a process for making a gelled, cheese-like product from liquid milk products without the need to form curds and whey. There is also a need for a simplified process for making a gelled, cheese-like product from liquid milk products which uses essentially all the components (e.g., protein) in the liquid milk product. Such a simplified process would offer the advantages of minimizing capital requirements and providing an economical manufacturing process. The present invention provides cheese-like compositions and processes that fulfills the needs identified herein.